The Football Kenya Federation (FKF) has moved with speed to reveal a new league structure that will take effect from season 2025/26.
With the Sportpesa League (Kenya’s top flight men’s league) is already on, FKF has made significant changes to league compositions, promotion and relegation formats, and player registration rules.
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In a communication, the Federation revealed that the they are maintaining the nine-month calendar with 2025/26 league starting in September 2025 and running through to June 2026. The SportPesa League will retain its 18-team format, while the National Super League (NSL)will continue with 20 teams.
“In the women’s competitions, the FKF Women’s Premier League remains a 12-team contest, with the FKF Women’s National Super League holding steady at 24 teams,” FKF said in the statement.
Changes will however happen in the lower tiers where the FKF Division One League will comprise four zones of 16 teams each with the FKF Women’s Division One League will consist of four zones of 10 teams each.
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In the Promotion and Relegation criteria, there has been an abolition of the SportPesa League/NSL promotion-relegation play-off. The move will see a new format where the bottom three teams in the SportPesa League will be relegated directly to the National Super League. The top three NSL teams will earn automatic promotion to the SportPesa League.
The bottom four NSL teams will drop to Division One, with the four zonal winners of Division One earning direct promotion to the NSL.
In each Division One zone, the bottom three teams will be relegated to the lower tier with the same set to happen in the Women’s leagues.
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The bottom three Women’s Premier League teams will be relegated to the Women’s National Super League. The zonal winners of the Women’s National Super League will gain automatic promotion to the Premier League, while the third promotion slot will be decided by a one-off play-off between the two second-placed teams.
The bottom two teams in each Women’s National Super League zone will be relegated to Women’s Division One. The top team in each Women’s Division One zone will secure promotion to the Women’s National Super League, while the bottom three in each zone will drop to the lower tier.
There is another change in the Player Registration Rules where clubs in the SportPesa League, Women’s Premier League, National Super League, and Women’s National Super League will now be allowed to register up to seven foreign nationals per season. Importantly, there will be no restrictions on the number of foreign players allowed on the pitch during matches.
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